The Philippine Navy and Air Force are set to receive small boats and radars from Japan through a $10.6 million Official Security Assistance grant that Tokyo says will strengthen Manila’s capabilities in the South China Sea and Luzon Strait.
Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Endo Kazuya and Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo inked the grant in Manila Thursday following a week of incidents with Beijing in the South China Sea.
“The Philippines faces important sea lanes including the South China Sea and the Luzon Strait and plays an important role in regional security,” read a statement from the Japanese embassy in the Philippines on the defense aid grant.
This is the second time Japan has pledged defense assistance to the Philippines under its recently created Official Security Assistance grant scheme, a program that focuses on military and other defense-related transfers from Tokyo to its partners and allies across the Indo-Pacific. Last year, the Philippines was the first country to receive assistance from the program when Japan pledged $4 million in maritime domain awareness radars.
In this latest tranche, Tokyo included the Philippine Air Force and increased its funding from $4 million to $10.6 million. Japan will provide an unspecified number of coastal radar systems and rigid-hulled inflatable boats to the Philippine Navy, which has sought more sensors to improve its maritime domain awareness capabilities across the country. Japan said the Navy project is “expected to contribute to maintaining and strengthening the regional security and to enhance the security of the vital sea lanes.”
For the Philippine Air Force, the Official Security Assistance will cover the service’s previously procured Mitsubishi Electric air defense radars. The Philippines ordered four air defense radars through a $103 million deal in 2020, which marked the largest international Japanese defense export sale. Since then, Manila activated the first air defense radar at a base facing the South China Sea in Western Luzon.
According to the release, the deal will include equipment related to the operation of the radars and “will help support the seamless operation of the radar and further improve the monitoring and surveillance capabilities of the Philippines.”
The coastal radar systems, rigid-hulled inflated boats and air defense improvements all appear to be related to capabilities sought by the Philippines to fend off China in the South China Sea. Tokyo has been among Manila’s primary sources of maritime security capabilities, as attested by the Japanese hulls in the Philippine Coast Guard fleet.
All of the Philippine Coast Guard vessels that have recently engaged their Chinese counterparts and the People’s Liberation Army Navy at Iroquois Reef, Sabina Shoal and Scarborough Shoal were previously funded and constructed by Japan through development assistance loans. Five more 97-meter-long patrol vessels were pledged by Tokyo earlier this year, adding to the 12 already provided since 2016.
